Importing of information in a computing system

ABSTRACT

A method and system. An information content is displayed on one or more respective screens in corresponding locations. An import request, for importing a digital representation of a physical object placed on a current screen in a current location, is received. A first digital image at least partially representing the current screen is acquired by one or more digital cameras. An object digital image representing an object area of the current screen being covered by the physical object is obtained. The object area is identified from comparison between the first digital image and a displayed digital image. A digital document representing the physical object is generated from the object digital image. The digital document is added to the information content for displaying the digital document at a position on each screen corresponding to a position of the physical object on the current screen.

This application is a continuation application claiming priority to Ser.No. 15/156,639, filed May 17, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,571,791, issuedFeb. 14, 2017.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to data processing, and more specifically,to an importing of information in a computing system.

BACKGROUND

Computing systems are routinely used to process a variety of information(such as to report, analyze, sort, aggregate the information). Forexample, computing systems may run collaborative applications that aredesigned to help persons involved in common tasks to achieve goals (suchas to facilitate team working in modern organizations). Generally, thecollaborative applications are used by persons in different locations(and particularly in remote locations that are dispersed geographically)to engage the collaborative applications in cooperative work. A typicalexample of a collaborative application is a tele-conference. Thetele-conference allows persons participating in the tele-conference indifferent conference rooms to discuss topics of common interest by meansof tele-communication techniques. For this purpose, each participant mayspeak in the tele-conference so as to be heard by all the otherparticipants in the teleconference, which is generally accompanied bytransmission of images relating to activities at the different locations(for example, an image of the participant that is currently speaking).Moreover, the tele-conference also allows sharing information amongparticipants in the teleconference to support the discussion in theteleconference. For example, shared documents (such as texts) may bedisplayed to all of the participants. Each participant may also have apossibility of editing the shared documents, with every change in theshared documents propagated to all of the other participants. Thevideo-conference brings the participants together virtually, withouthaving the participants meet physically (thereby cutting travel costs).

The information processed in any computing system (including theinformation shared in any tele-conference) is in digital form. Thisinformation may be generated directly in digital form (for example, incase of word processor documents, spreadsheets, computer-graphicdrawings). Otherwise, any physical object (i.e., a digitalrepresentation thereof) is to be imported in the computing system forallowing the physical object's processing. For example, a paper documentmay be scanned to obtain a digital image thereof, which is then saved ina corresponding digital document. However, the importing of the physicalobjects may be difficult. Indeed, the equipment required for theimporting of the physical objects may be not available locally (or therequired equipment may be not available at all).

Alternatively, “Multi-touch Table with Image Capturing, Jakub Husek,Proceedings of CESCG 2011: The 15th Central European Seminar on ComputerGraphics” discloses a multi touch screen with an ability of takingpictures through the screen. U.S. Pat. No. 8,611,667 discloses aprojection-vision system employing a camera and a projector (sitting offto the side of a projection surface) that can detect when an object ispresent on the projection surface, capture an image thereof andsubsequently project the image back on the projection surface or ontoother remotely connected display surfaces. EP-A-0622722 discloses asystem for generating new documents from originals, wherein a cameracaptures various manual operations carried out by the user on anoriginal paper document (representing manipulations of the document'stext or images), and feedback to the user is provided by projection ofan image onto the original paper document.

In any case, importing the physical objects is not completely naturaland not intuitive. As a result, operations required to import thephysical objects may be relatively time consuming (especially during alearning phase thereof), which is particularly annoying in case of atele-conference. Indeed, in the tele-conference, the participantsinteract substantially in real-time. Therefore, any delay caused byimporting a physical object may cause a corresponding stop of thetele-conference.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides a method, and associated system andcomputer program product, for importing information in a computingsystem. An information content being stored in the computing system isdisplayed on each screen of one or more screens of the computing systemprovided in corresponding locations. An import request by the computingsystem is received in a current location for importing a digitalrepresentation of a physical object placed on a current screen of theone or more screens in the current location. A first digital image atleast partially representing the current screen is received by one ormore digital cameras arranged above the current screen in the currentlocation. An object digital image representing an object area of thecurrent screen being covered by the physical object is obtained, whereinthe object area is identified according to a comparison between thefirst digital image and a displayed digital image being displayed by thecurrent screen at an acquisition instant of the first digital image. Adigital document representing the physical object is generated from theobject digital image. The digital document is added to the informationcontent for displaying the digital document on each screen of the one ormore screens in correspondence to a position of the physical object onthe current screen.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a pictorial representation of a computing infrastructurethat may be used to practice embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A-2G show general principles according to embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 shows software components that may be used to implementembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an activity diagram describing a flow of activitiesrelating to an implementation of embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Participation in video-conferences may be made far more intuitive andrapid by the use of touch-screen tables provided in the conferencerooms. Each touch-screen table comprises a relatively big interactivetouch-screen embedded in a table. The touch-screen displays images andat the same time allows entering inputs relating to the displayed imagesby corresponding gestures that are implemented by touching thetouch-screen (for example, to click virtual buttons, scroll documents,zoom images), which allows interacting with the touch-screen in asubstantially natural way.

In general terms, the present invention is based on importing a physicalobject placed on a screen by one or more digital cameras arranged abovethe screen.

An aspect of the present invention provides a method for importinginformation in a computing system that comprises obtaining an objectdigital image (representing an object area of a screen of the computingsystem that is covered by a physical object placed thereon), wherein theobject area is identified according to a comparison between a firstdigital image (acquired by one or more digital cameras arranged abovethe screen, at least partially) and a displayed digital image which may,in one embodiment, bedisplayed by the screen at an acquisition instantof the first digital image. An acquisition instant of the first digitalimage is defined as a time at which the scan image is generated.

A further aspect of the present invention provides a software programand a computer program product for implementing methods of the presentinvention.

FIG. 1 shows a pictorial representation of a computing infrastructure100 that may be used to practice embodiments of the present invention.

The computing infrastructure 100 has a distributed architecture, whereina server computing machine (or server) 105 and a plurality of clientcomputing machines (“clients” denote the client computing machines) 110communicate over a network 115 (for example, Internet based). The server105 offers a tele-conference service to the clients 110, which isprovided in corresponding conference rooms which may be dispersedgeographically so as to be remote one to another. The tele-conferenceservice may be exploited by users of the clients 110 (referred to asparticipants) to participate to tele-conferences, and particularlyweb-conferences when implemented over the Internet (e.g., to discusstopics of common interest).

The computing machines 105,110 of each server/client combinationcomprise several units that are connected in parallel to a bus structure120 (with an architecture that is suitably scaled according to theactual function of the computing machine 105,110). For example, theserver 105 may be part of a server farm (not shown in FIG. 1) and eachclient 110 is implemented by a touch-screen table. In detail, one ormore microprocessors (μP) 125 control operation of the computing machine105,110. A RAM 130 is used as a working memory by the microprocessors125, and a ROM 135 stores basic code for a bootstrap of the computingmachine 105,110. The computing machine 105,110 is also provided with amass-memory comprising one or more hard-disks 140 (implemented bystorage devices of the server farm for the server 105) and drives 145for reading/writing removable storage units; for example, optical disks150 like DVDs (implemented by a console of the server farm for theserver 105). Moreover, the computing machine 105,110 has input/output(I/O) units 155 (for example, a keyboard, a mouse and a monitor);particularly, in the case of the server 105 the input/output units 155are implemented by the console of the server farm, whereas in the caseof each client 110 the input/output units 155 comprise a touch-screen ofthe client's touch-screen table. A network adapter (NIC) 160 is used toconnect the computing machine 105,110 to the network 115.

FIGS. 2A-2G show general principles according to embodiments of thepresent invention.

Starting from FIG. 2A, each conference room 200 comprises acorresponding touch-screen table 250. The touch-screen table 250 isformed by a desk 205, which has a top plate suspended horizontally at aheight allowing every participant in the tele-conferences to sit infront of the desk 205 (for example, by four legs provided at corners ofthe desk 205). A touch-screen 210 is embedded in the top plate of thedesk 205, so as to extend substantially horizontally. A personalcomputer 215 provided under the top plate of the desk 205 implements allthe other components of the touch-screen table 250.

The touch-screen 210 comprises a display panel (for example, of LCDtype) for displaying images and a sensing plate (for example, ofcapacitive type) for entering inputs relating to the displayed images bycorresponding gestures that are implemented by touching the sensingplate. In one embodiment, the touch-screen 210 is of a multi-touch typeso as to support both simple-touch gestures and multi-touch gestures.The simple-touch gestures are implemented by single touches of thetouch-screen 210 (for example, clicking virtual buttons, scrollingdigital documents, dragging images). The multi-touch gestures areinstead implemented by multiple touches at once of the touch-screen 210(for example, pinching an image to zoom it in and out, moving thefingers clockwise/counterclockwise to rotate an image). During anytele-conference, the touch-screen 210 may display a command frame with amenu for entering commands relating thereto (for example, start/end,intervene) and a virtual keyboard for entering text (for example, amessage for the participants). Moreover, the touch-screen 210 displays adocument frame containing one or more digital documents that are sharedamong the participants in the tele-conference. The shared (digital)documents are displayed in the same way on the touch-screens of all theparticipants and the shared documents may be manipulated on thetouch-screen of any (authorized) participant (for example, to addhand-written notes).

In an embodiment of the present invention, the conference room 200further comprises one or more digital cameras 220 (three digital camerasin the example in FIG. 2A), which are arranged above the touch-screen210 (for example, mounted on a ceiling of the conference room 200, notshown in FIG. 2A). Each digital camera 220 comprises a high number ofsensors (for example, an array of 1.000-20.000 CCDs), which allowacquiring digital images at very high resolution (for example, of theorder of 1.000-20.000×1.000-20.000 pixels), The digital cameras 220 aresteerable to scan large areas (for example, up to 1-5×1-5 m) or to pointand zoom to specific small areas.

Moving to FIG. 2B, a physical object, for example, a paper document 225present in the conference room 200 is to be imported in thetele-conference (for being shared with the other participants in thetele-conference). A participant in the tele-conference in the conferenceroom 200 places the paper document 225 onto the touch-screen 210 In oneembodiment, and the paper document 225 is placed with a side of thedocument 225 containing relevant information facing upwards at a desiredposition in the document frame. At this point, the participant enters animport request (for importing the paper document 225 in thetele-conference) by selecting a corresponding command in the commandframe (for example, by clicking on a dedicated virtual button). Inresponse thereto, a digital image representing the touch-screen 210 or apart thereof, referred to as scan (digital) image, is acquired by thedigital cameras 220. A digital image representing an object area of thetouch-screen 210 that is covered by the paper document 225, referred toas object (digital) image, is then obtained. The object area isidentified according to a comparison between a scan image (seedescription of scan image FIG. 2C) and the digital image that isdisplayed by the touch-screen 210 at an acquisition instant of the scanimage. The digital image is referred to as a displayed (digital) image.This resulting digital image may be achieved in different ways.

Moving to FIG. 2C, in a semi-automatic mode, the scan image is acquiredby the digital cameras 220 to represent the whole touch-screen 210 (orat least the document frame). One or more candidate areas (for theobject area of the paper document 225) are identified by comparing thescan image with the displayed image. Particularly, the candidate areasare identified by portions of the scan image that differ from thecorresponding portions of the displayed image, which means that thecorresponding areas of the touch-screen 210 are covered by physicalobjects, so that these physical objects are represented in the scanimage instead of the corresponding portions of the displayed image. Inthe example in FIG. 2C, a candidate area 230 a is identified for thepaper document 225 (to be imported in the tele-conference) and two othercandidate areas 230 b and 230 c are identified for other physicalobjects that may be present on the touch-screen 210 (for example, a penor a sheet for use locally in the conference room 200). A visual mark(represented by a broken line) is then displayed on the touch-screen 210near each candidate area 230 a-230 c to prompt the participant to select(or confirm) the object area 230 a corresponding to the paper document225 (for example, by clicking on the visual mark).

Moving to FIG. 2D, the object image is now acquired by the digitalcameras 220 to represent the object area that has been identified above.

Moving to FIG. 2E, in a manual mode the participant is instead promptedto select a scan area 235 of the touch-screen 210 that encloses thepaper document 225 (for example, by drawing a line roughly around it).

Moving to FIG. 2F, the scan image is acquired by the digital cameras 220to represent the scan area 235 only. The object area covered by thepaper document 225 is now identified by comparing the scan image withthe corresponding portion of the digital image as above (with the objectarea that is identified by the portion of the scan image that differsfrom the displayed image, meaning that the object area is covered by thepaper document 225 so that the paper document is represented in the scanimage instead of the corresponding portion of the displayed image). Theobject image is then obtained from the representation of the object areain the scan image.

Moving to FIG. 2G, independent of how the object image has beenobtained, a new digital document representing the paper document 225 isgenerated from the object image. The new digital document is added tothe shared documents of the tele-conference (if any). As a result, thenew digital document is displayed in the document frame of thetouch-screens of all the participants in the tele-conference, incorrespondence to the position of the paper document 225 on thetouch-screen 210. Therefore, as soon as the participant in theconference room 200 removes the paper document 225 from the touch-screen210, the representation of the new digital document matching the paperdocument 225 (denoted with the reference 240) appears below it. The newdigital document 240 may now be manipulated as usual in thetele-conference (by any authorized participant).

The above-described solution makes the importing of the paper documentin the tele-conference very natural and then intuitive. Indeed, for thispurpose the paper document is placed onto the touch-screen exactly inthe same way as if the paper document was added to a table with physicalobjects corresponding to the shared documents displayed thereon. Oncethe paper document is removed, the touch-screen automatically displaysthe corresponding digital representation, which results in a veryuser-friendly experience. Indeed, the content of the paper documentappears to be sucked by the touch-screen thereby passing from the realworld (the paper document) to the virtual world (the new digitaldocument) seamlessly, with the impression of peeling off a transparentfilm when the paper document is removed from the touch-screen table,which significantly reduces the time required to import the paperdocument, especially when the participant is not expert (since acorresponding learning curve is far steeper). These advantages areespecially perceived in the tele-conference. Indeed, the importing ofthe paper document may be performed substantially in real-time withoutany impact (or at most with a very short delay) on progress of theimporting of the paper document.

FIG. 3 shows software components that may be used to implementembodiments of the present invention.

Particularly, all of the software components (programs and data) aredenoted collectively by reference 300. The software components 300 maybe stored in the mass memory and loaded (at least partially) into theworking memory of each computing machine when the programs are running,together with an operating system and other application programs (notshown in FIG. 3). The programs may be initially installed into the massmemory, for example, from removable storage units or from the network.Each program may be a module, segment or portion of code, whichcomprises one or more executable instructions for implementing thespecified logical function.

The server 105 and the clients 110 (only one shown in FIG. 3) run atele-conference application, which comprises a server-side componentimplemented on the server 105 and a client-side component implemented oneach client 110.

Particularly, the server 105 runs a tele-conference manager 305 offeringthe tele-conference service to the users of the clients 110. For thispurpose, the tele-conference manager 305 controls (in read/write mode) atele-conference repository 310. The tele-conference repository 310 maystore control information of each tele-conference that is in progress(for example, participants in the tele-conference with their roles,credentials, network addresses of the clients). Moreover, thetele-conference manager 305 controls (in read/write mode) a centralshared document repository 315, which stores a central version of theshared documents of each tele-conference that is in progress (forexample, each shared document in a corresponding file associated with anindication of position and orientation of the shared document on thetouch-screens of the participants in the tele-conference).

Each client 110 runs a tele-conference agent 320 controlling eachtele-conference that is in progress locally. For this purpose, thetele-conference agent 320 interacts (remotely) with the tele-conferencemanager 305. Moreover, the tele-conference agent 320 controls (inread/write mode) a local shared document repository 325, which stores alocal version of the shared documents of the tele-conference(synchronized with a central version of the shared documents of thetele-conference stored in the central shared document repository 315),together with a corresponding definition of the displayed image that iscurrently displayed on the touch-screen of the client 110 (not shown inFIG. 3). A touch-screen driver 330 drives the touch-screen. For thispurpose, the touch-screen driver 330 further controls (in read/writemode) the local shared document repository 325 (in mutual exclusion withthe tele-conference agent 320). Moreover, the touch-screen driver 330interacts with the tele-conference agent 320.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the client 110 runsan importer 335 controlling the importing of any physical objects in thetele-conference. For this purpose, the importer 335 interacts with thetouch-screen driver 330 and with the tele-conference agent 320. Theimporter 335 controls (in read/write mode) the local shared documentrepository 325 (in mutual exclusion with the tele-conference agent 320and the touch-screen driver 330). Moreover, the importer 335 controls acamera driver 340, which drives the digital cameras of the client 110(not shown in FIG. 3). The camera driver 340 interacts with an imageprocessor 345 implementing pre-processing and post-processing operationsfor the digital images that are acquired by the digital cameras. Thecamera driver 340 controls (in write mode) a digital image repository350, which stores each digital image that has been acquired by thedigital cameras. The digital image repository 350 is accessed (in readmode) by the importer 335.

FIG. 4 shows an activity diagram describing a flow of activitiesrelating to an implementation of embodiments of the present invention.

Particularly, the diagram of FIG. 4 represents an exemplary process(which may be used to import physical objects, such as paper documents,in a tele-conference that is in progress in a conference room) inaccordance with a method 400. In this respect, each block in FIG. 4 maycorrespond to one or more executable instructions for implementing thespecified logical function in the computing systems of server 105 andclients 110 in FIG. 1.

Starting from block 403, the importer 335 is listening for thesubmission of any import request (for importing a paper documentpreviously placed on the touch-screen) by a participant to thetele-conference. The process passes to block 406 as soon as the importerreceives a notification from the touch-screen driver that a (new) importrequest has been submitted (for example, when the importer detects theclicking of a corresponding virtual button displayed in the commandframe). At this point, the importer notifies the tele-conference agentthat the importing of the paper document has started, so as to cause thetele-conference agent to suspend any update of the shared documents onthe touch-screens of all the participants to the tele-conference. I Inthis way, the digital image that is currently displayed on all of thetouch-screens (comprising the touch screen wherein the import requesthas been submitted) is frozen to define the displayed image to be usedto identify the object area on which the paper document has been placed.The flow of activity then branches at block 409 according to aconfiguration of the importer. Particularly, a branch formed by theblocks 412-445 is followed when the importer is configured for operatingin the semi-automatic mode whereas a branch formed by the blocks 448-469is followed when the importer is configured for operating in the manualmode, with the two branches merging at block 472.

With reference to block 412 (semi-automatic mode), the importer commandsthe camera driver to acquire a (new) scan image of the wholetouch-screen. For example, each digital camera is steered and focused toacquire a digital image representing a corresponding portion of thetouch-screen, identified by markers (for example, of reflective type)arranged at known positions. The digital image is defined by a bitmapcomprising a matrix of cells, each cell storing the value of arespective pixel (i.e., a basic picture element representing a basicportion of the touch-screen). Typically, the pixel value comprises threeelements (for example, each element having 8 bits) providing its Red,Green and Blue (RGB) components. The image processor determines variousparameters of the digital image (such as a high-frequency content and anaverage luminosity), which are used to control operation of the digitalcamera automatically (for example, the digital camera's focus andexposure). The image processor also modifies the digital image toimprove the digital image's quality (for example, applying awhite-balance algorithm, correcting exposure problems, reducing a noise)and to compensate a perspective representation of the digital image. Atthis point, the image processor combines the digital images acquired bythe different digital cameras into the desired scan image (so as torepresent the whole touch-screen). The camera driver then stores thescan image so obtained into the digital image repository. The digitalimages acquired by the digital cameras, and then the resulting scanimage, have a relatively low resolution (for example, 1-10% of a maximumresolution of the digital cameras, such as 50-400×50-400 pixels). Inthis way, the scan image may be obtained in a relatively short time (forexample, a few seconds) even when the touch-screen is relatively large(so as to limit impact of the scan image on the progress of thetele-conference). At the same time, the low resolution of the scan imagedoes not create any problem since the scan image is only used toidentify the object area (whereas the corresponding object image isacquired later on).

Passing to block 415, the importer compares the scan image (extractedfrom the digital image repository) with the displayed image (extractedfrom the local shared document repository) to identify any candidateareas of the touch-screen covered by physical objects. For example, asmoothing algorithm is applied to the scan image to compensate anypossible misalignment thereof with respect to the displayed image (forexample, a moving average filter). The scan image and the displayedimage are then sub-sampled to make the scan image and the displayedimage the same size. The scan image and the displayed image are possiblyfurther sub-sampled to improve the robustness and to reduce thecomputation time (by partitioning the scan/displayed images into groupsof cells and calculating an aggregated value for each one of thescan/displayed images, for example, as the average of the pixel valuesof the scan/displayed images). A comparison mask is generated. Thecomparison mask is defined by a matrix of cells with the same size asthe scan/displayed images, with each cell storing a flag (i.e., a binaryvalue) that is asserted (for example, at the logic value 1) when thecorresponding pixel value of the scan image significantly differs fromthe corresponding pixel value of the displayed image (i.e., thedifference in the respective pixel values exceeds a threshold, forexample, equal to 0-2% of a maximum value thereof) or it is deasserted(for example, at the logic value 0) otherwise. At this point, thecomparison mask is scanned to detect every group of adjacent cells whoseflag is asserted. An identifier of each group of adjacent cells that isdetected (for example, defined by the coordinates of its upper-leftcell) is then saved into a candidate area list. The full-size of thecomparison mask corresponding to the original size of the displayedimage is restored by replicating the flag of each cell of the(sub-sampled) comparison mask in all the corresponding cells of the(full-size) comparison mask. At the same time, the identifiers in thecandidate area list are updated accordingly. In this way, the groups ofadjacent cells in the comparison mask define the candidate areas, whichare identified in the candidate area list.

The importer now performs a loop for processing the candidate areas. Theloop begins at block 418, wherein a (current) candidate area is takeninto account (starting from a first candidate area in any arbitraryorder). The importer at block 421 verifies whether a shape of thecandidate area matches a reference shape (or more). For example, theimporter searches for the presence of two pairs of parallel edges of thecandidate area that are perpendicular to each other (meaning that thecandidate area has a generically rectangular shape). If the candidatearea does not match the reference shape (i.e., the two pairs of paralleledges are not found), the importer discards the candidate area at block424 by deasserting the candidate area's flags in the comparison mask andby removing the candidate area's identifier from the candidate arealist. In this way, it is possible to avoid taking into account areas ofthe touch-screen that are covered by physical objects unlikely torepresent the paper document (for example, a hand or the arm of theparticipant). The process then continues to block 427. The same point isinstead reached directly from the block 421 (without performing anyoperation) when the candidate area matches the reference shape. At thispoint, a test is made wherein the importer verifies whether a lastcandidate area has been processed. If the last candidate area has notbeen processed, the process returns to the block 418 to repeat the sameoperations on a next candidate area.

Conversely, once all the candidate areas have been processed, the loopis exited by descending into block 430. The importer now commands thetouch-screen driver to display a visual mark close to each candidatearea (as indicated in the candidate area list); for example, a red linearound each candidate area's contour (as indicated in the comparisonmask) with a flushing point at its upper-left corner (as indicated inthe candidate area list). I In this way, the participant is prompted toselect the object area among multiple candidate areas or to confirm theobject area for a single candidate area. In response thereto, theimporter discards any other (unselected) candidate areas by deassertingthe flags of the other candidate areas in the comparison mask and byremoving identifiers of the other candidate areas from the candidatearea list. At the same time, the importer commands the touch-screendriver to remove the visual marks of the unselected candidate areas as afeedback for the participant.

At this point, a (new) object image is acquired of the object area. Forthis purpose, the importer at block 433 determines a contour area of thetouch-screen enclosing the object area. For example, the contour area isidentified in the comparison mask by the smallest (rectangular)sub-matrix thereof comprising all the cells of the object area (i.e.,having the corresponding flag that are asserted), hereinafter referredto as object mask. Continuing to block 436, the importer commands thecamera driver to acquire a (new) contour image of the contour area. Forexample, as above each digital camera is steered and focused to acquirea digital image representing a corresponding portion of the contourarea. The image processor then combines the digital images acquired bythe different digital cameras into the desired contour image (defined bya matrix of cells with the same size as the object mask). The cameradriver then stores the contour image so obtained into the digital imagerepository. The digital images are acquired by the digital cameras, andthen the resulting contour image (from which the object image will beextracted), has a resolution higher than the resolution of the scanimage; for example, equal to 2-100 times, preferably 5-50 times andstill more preferably 10-30 times, such as 20 times (for example,80-100% of the maximum resolution of the digital cameras, such as1.000-20.000×1.000-20.000 pixels). In this way, the contour image hasthe resolution required to represent any details of the paper document(for example, enough to read printed text). Nevertheless, the contourimage may be obtained in a relatively short time (for example, a fewseconds) since the contour image only relates to a small portion of thetouch screen. The importer then extracts the object image from thecontour image (in the digital image repository) at block 439. For thispurpose, the object mask is sub-sampled or expanded to make the objectmask of the same size as the contour image. At this point, the contourimage is multiplied cell-by-cell by the object mask. As a result, thepixel values of the contour image inside the object area are preserved,whereas the other pixel values thereof are zeroed.

A test is now made at block 442, wherein the importer verifies whetherany obstruction was present of the object area; i.e., any obstacle thatobstructed the view of the paper document during the acquisition of thecontour image. For this purpose, the importer compares the object imagewith the corresponding portion of the scan image. For example, at afirst verification of the obstruction, a reference (digital) image isgenerated (with the same reference image that is then used at anyfurther verification of the obstruction). For this purpose, the objectmask is sub-sampled or expanded to make the object mask of the same sizeas the scan image. The portion corresponding to the object mask isextracted from the scan image and then the portion is multipliedcell-by-cell by the object mask. In this way, the pixel values of thescan image inside the object area are preserved, whereas the other pixelvalues thereof (outside the object area but inside the contour area) arezeroed. In any case, the object image (in one embodiment, after applyingthe same smoothing algorithm as above) is sub-sampled to make the objectmask the same size as the reference image. The cells of the object imagesignificantly differing from the cells of the reference image aredetermined (i.e., when their difference exceeds a threshold, forexample, again equal to 0-2% of a maximum value thereof). The objectimage is deemed different from the reference image when the number ofthese differing cells reaches a threshold (for example, equal to 5-10%of the total number of these differing cells). I In this case, it may beinferred that an obstacle (for example, the hand of the participant usedto select the object area) obstructed the view of the paper documentduring the acquisition of the contour image. When the obstruction isdetected, the importer at block 445 causes the touch-screen driver tooutput a warning on the touch-screen requesting the participant to clearthe object area (for example, by displaying a corresponding message in apop-up window together with a beep). The process then returns to theblock 433 to repeat the same operations (in order to re-acquire thecontour image and then the object image) after a delay (for example, 2-5s) allowing the participant to remove the obstruction. Conversely, if noobstruction is detected (meaning that the object image correctlyrepresents the paper document) the flow of activity descends into block472.

In the semi-automatic mode, the identification of the object area (andthen the obtaining of the object image) requires a reduced manualintervention by the participant (down to no identification of the objectarea when no confirmation is required in case of a single candidatearea).

With reference instead to block 448 (manual mode), the importer promptsthe participant to select a scan area (in the touch-screen) thatencloses the object area wherein the paper document is placed (forexample, by outputting a corresponding message in a pop-up window). Theprocess passes to block 451 as soon as the importer receives anotification from the touch-screen driver that a significant line (forexample, with a length higher than a threshold, such as 5-10 cm) hasbeen drawn on the touch-screen. At this point, the importer determines aselection line defined by a closed line corresponding to the drawn line.For example, when the drawn line crosses itself, the selection line isdefined along a drawing direction of the drawn line starting from thedrawn line's first crossing point until the same first crossing point isreached again, whereas when the drawn line does not crosses itself theselection line is defined by joining the selection line's two ends. Theimporter identifies a selection area of the touch-screen as a portionthereof that is enclosed within the selection line. The importer thencreates a selection mask defined by a matrix of cells having the samesize as the smallest (rectangular) sub-matrix of the displayed imagecomprising the selection area. Each cell of the selection mask stores aflag that is asserted when the corresponding pixel is inside theselection area or is deasserted otherwise.

At this point, a (new) scan image is acquired of a scan area of thetouch-screen corresponding to the selection area. For this purpose, theimporter at block 454 determines the scan area corresponding to the samesmallest sub-matrix of the displayed image comprising the selectionarea. Continuing to block 457, the importer commands the camera driverto acquire the scan image. For example, as above each digital camera issteered and focused to acquire a digital image representing acorresponding portion of the scan area. The image processor thencombines the digital images acquired by the different digital camerasinto the desired scan image (so as to represent the whole scan area).The camera driver then stores the scan image so obtained into thedigital image repository. The digital images acquired by the digitalcameras, and then the resulting scan image (from which the object imagewill be extracted), have a high resolution (for example, the same as theresolution of the contour image in the semi-automatic mode) required torepresent any detail of the paper document. However, the scan image maynow be obtained in a relatively short time (for example, a few seconds)since the scan image only relates to a small portion of the touchscreen.

A test is now made at block 460, wherein the importer verifies whetherany obstruction was present of the paper document, i.e., any obstaclethat obstructed its view during the acquisition of the scan image. Forthis purpose, the importer compares a peripheral portion of the scanimage (defined by the portion of the scan area outside the selectionarea) with the corresponding portion of the displayed image. Forexample, at a first verification of the obstruction, a reference(digital) image is generated (with the same reference image that is thenused at any further verification of the obstruction). For this purpose,the portion corresponding to the scan area is extracted from thedisplayed image (in the local shared documents repository), and then theportion is multiplied cell-by-cell by a negated selection mask obtainedfrom the selection mask by inverting the selection mask's flags. In thisway, the pixel values of the displayed image inside the scan area butoutside the selection area are preserved, whereas the other pixel valuesthereof (inside the selection area) are zeroed. In any case, the scanimage (possibly after applying the same smoothing algorithm as above) orthe reference image is sub-sampled to make the scan image and thereference image the same size. The cells of the peripheral portion ofthe scan image (i.e., whose pixel values in the reference image aredifferent from zero) significantly differing from the cells of thereference image are determined (i.e., when their difference exceeds athreshold; for example, again equal to 0-2% of a maximum value thereof).The peripheral portion of the scan image is deemed different from thereference image when the number of these differing cells reaches athreshold (for example, again equal to 5-10° % of the total number ofthese differing cells). I In this case, it may be inferred that anobstacle (for example, the hand of the participant used to draw the linedefining the selection area) obstructed the view of the peripheralportion of the scan area during the acquisition of the scan image, andthen might have obstructed the view of the paper document (in theselection area) as well. When the obstruction is detected, the importerat block 463 causes the touch-screen driver to output a warning on thetouch-screen requesting the participant to clear the scan area (forexample, again by displaying a corresponding message in a pop-up windowtogether with a beep). The process then returns to the block 457 torepeat the same operations (in order to re-acquire the scan image) aftera delay (for example, again 2-5 s) allowing the participant to removethe obstruction. Conversely, if no obstruction is detected (meaning thatthe scan image correctly represents the paper document inside the scanimage) the flow of activity descends into block 466.

At this point, the importer compares the scan image against thecorresponding portion of the displayed image (hereinafter referred to asdisplayed sub-image) to identify the object area of the touch-screencovered by the paper document. For example, as above the (possiblysmoothed) scan image or the displayed sub-image is sub-sampled to makethe scan image and the displayed sub-image the same size and the scanimage and the displayed sub-image are possibly further sub-sampled toimprove the robustness and to reduce the computation time. An objectmask is generated. The object mask is defined by a matrix of cells withthe same size as the scan image/displayed sub-image, with each cellstoring a flag that is asserted when the corresponding pixel value ofthe scan image significantly differs from the corresponding pixel valueof the displayed sub-image (i.e., their difference exceeds a threshold,for example, again equal to 0-2% of a maximum value thereof) or isdeasserted otherwise). The full-size of the object mask corresponding tothe original size of the scan image is then restored. In this way, the(adjacent) cells of the object mask whose flags are asserted identifythe object area. Continuing to block 469, the importer generates theobject image (representing the paper document) by multiplying the scanimage cell-by-cell by the object mask. As a result, the pixel values ofthe scan image inside the object area are preserved, whereas the otherpixel values thereof are zeroed. The flow of activity then descends intoblock 472.

In the manual mode, the object image is obtained directly from the scanimage, and then in a very fast way.

With reference now to block 472 (wherein the flow of activity mergesafter the object image has been obtained in either the semi-automaticmode or the manual mode), the importer generates a (new) digitaldocument representing the paper document from the object image. Forexample, the representation of the paper document in the object image isrotated by the smaller rotation angle (clockwise or counterclockwisearound a rotation corner thereof) that is required to align its paralleledges with the touch-screen, and then it is saved into a corresponding(new) digital document. The importer at block 475 then adds the newdigital document to the local shared document repository, in associationwith an indication of a position of the paper document on thetouch-screen (at its acquisition), for example, defined by its rotationcorner and rotation angle.

The process continues to block 478, wherein the touch-screen driverdetects the change of the local shared document repository caused by theaddition of the new digital document. As a consequence, the touch-screendriver refreshes the touch-screen by adding the representation of thepaper document (defined in the new digital document) at thecorresponding position (defined by its rotation corner and rotationangle). At the same time, the tele-conference agent as well detects thesame change of the local shared document repository caused by theaddition of the new digital document. As a consequence, thetele-conference agent transmits the change to the tele-conferencemanager that replicates the new digital document on the touch-screens ofthe other participants to the tele-conference. Moreover, the importernotifies the tele-conference agent that the importing of the paperdocument has been completed, so as to cause the tele-conference agent torestore the possibility of updating the shared documents on thetouch-screens of all the participants to the tele-conference.

At this point, the importer at block 481 commands the touch-screendriver to display a highlighting around the paper document on thetouch-screen (for example, a flushing line enclosing it) to notify theparticipant that the paper document has been imported in thetele-conference and to prompt the participant to remove the paperdocument from the touch-screen. The importer then enters an idle loop atblock 484 waiting for the removal of the paper document from thetouch-screen. For example, for this purpose the importer continuallycommands the camera driver to acquire a (new) verification (digital)image of the object area (for example, every 10-100 ms). In this case aswell, each digital camera is steered and focused to acquire a digitalimage representing a corresponding portion of the object area. The imageprocessor then combines the digital images acquired by the differentdigital cameras into the desired verification image. The camera driverthen stores the verification image so obtained into the digital imagerepository. The digital images acquired by the digital cameras, and thenthe resulting verification image, have a relatively low resolution (forexample, the same as the resolution of the scan image of thesemi-automatic mode), since this verification image is only used tomonitor a position of the paper document on the touch-screen. At a firstiteration, the importer saves the verification image as a start image(representing the paper document that covers the same representation ofthe new digital document in the touch-screen). At each next iteration,the importer compares the verification image with the start image (asabove). As soon as the verification image differs from the start image,the importer detects a beginning of the removal of the paper document(since a portion of the representation of the new digital document inthe touch screen is now covered by a different portion of the paperdocument). Once the verification image returns equal to the start image,the importer detects a completion of the removal of the paper document(since the whole representation of the new digital document, equal tothe paper document, is now displayed on the touch screen). When thisoccurs, the idle loop is exited by descending into block 487. At thispoint, the importer commands the touch-screen driver to delete thehighlighting around the paper document on the touch-screen. The processthen returns to the block 403 waiting for the submission of a (next)import request.

In order to satisfy local and specific requirements, a person skilled inthe art may apply many logical and/or physical modifications andalterations to the present invention. More specifically, although thisdisclosure has been described with a certain degree of particularitywith reference to one or more embodiments thereof, it should beunderstood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the formand details as well as other embodiments are possible. Particularly,different embodiments of the present invention may even be practicedwithout the specific details (such as the numerical values) set forth inthe preceding description to provide a more thorough understandingthereof, conversely, well-known features may have been omitted orsimplified in order not to obscure the description with unnecessaryparticulars. Moreover, it is expressly intended that specific elementsand/or method steps described in connection with any embodiment of thepresent invention may be incorporated in any other embodiment as amatter of general design choice. In any case, each numerical valueshould be read as modified by the term about (unless already done) andeach range of numerical values should be intended as expresslyspecifying any possible number along the continuum within the range(comprising its end points). Moreover, ordinal or other qualifiers aremerely used as labels to distinguish elements with the same name but donot by themselves connote any priority, precedence or order. Moreover,the terms include, comprise, have, contain and involve (and any formsthereof) should be intended with an open, non-exhaustive meaning (i.e.,not limited to the recited items), the terms based on, dependent on,according to, function of (and any forms thereof) should be intended asa non-exclusive relation (i.e., with possible further variablesinvolved), the term a/an should be intended as one or more items (unlessexpressly indicated otherwise), and the term means for (or anymeans-plus-function formulation) should be intended as any structureadapted or configured for carrying out the relevant function.

For example, an embodiment provides a method for importing informationin a computing system. However, the information may be of any type (forexample, texts, tables, drawings, any combination thereof). Moreover,the information may be imported in any computing system, even notimplementing a collaborative application (for example, in a stand-alonesoftware application for use by a single person).

In an embodiment, an information content stored in the computing systemis displayed on each of one or more screens of the computing systemprovided in corresponding locations. However, the information contentmay be of any type (for example, files, databases) and it may be storedin any way in the computing system (for example, in a cloud storage).The information content may be displayed on any number and type ofscreens, even not of touch type (for example, standard display panels),in any number and type of locations (for example, offices, homes, publicfacilities) either local or remote one to another.

In an embodiment, an import request is received by the computing systemin a current one of the locations for importing a digital representationof a physical object placed on a current one of the screens in thecurrent location. However, the import request may be received in any way(for example, by clicking with a mouse or by pressing a physical button)by any component of the computing system (for example, a distinctcomputer connected to the screen), even automatically (for example, bymonitoring the screen to detect the placing of the physical objectthereon). The physical object may be of any type (for example, a page ofa book, a printed sheet, a hand-written sheet, a 3D object) and it maybe placed on the screen in any way (for example, with the screen that isslightly slanted).

In an embodiment, a first digital image is acquired at least partiallyrepresenting the current screen by one or more digital cameras arrangedabove the current screen. However, the first digital image may be of anytype (for example, of gray-scale type) and it may represent either thewhole current screen or only a part thereof. The first digital image maybe acquired in any way (for example, in one shot or combining multipledigital images representing either different areas or the same area).The digital cameras may by in any number and of any type (for example,web cams) and they may be arranged in any way above the screen (forexample, mounted on stands or walls).

In an embodiment, an object digital image is obtained representing anobject area of the current screen, which is covered by the physicalobject. However, the object area may be obtained in any way, either fromthe scan image or from any other image (see below).

In an embodiment, the object area is identified according to acomparison between the first digital image and a displayed digitalimage, which is displayed by the screen at an acquisition instant of thefirst digital image. However, the first digital image and the displayeddigital image may be compared in any way to identify the object area(for example, at full resolution or on sub-sampled versions thereof,with dynamic thresholds for detecting differing pixels or groupsthereof).

In an embodiment, a digital document is generated representing thephysical object from the object digital image. However, the digitaldocument may be of any type (for example, entirely in graphical form orwith its text in editable form). The digital document may be generatedin any way (for example, by applying filtering, OCR algorithms).

In an embodiment, the digital document is added to the informationcontent for the displaying of the digital document on each one of thescreens in correspondence to a position of the physical object on thecurrent screen. However, the digital document may be added to theinformation content in any way (for example, by transmitting itremotely). The display of the digital document may be obtained in anyway (for example, automatically by monitoring the information content orin response to a notification of the importing of the physical object).The display of the digital document may occur in correspondence to theposition of the physical object on the current screen in any way (forexample, according to a scaling factor).

In an embodiment, the screens are a plurality of screens implementing acollaborative application in the computing system. However, the screensmay be in any number (comprising a single screen used by multiple users)and the screens may implement any collaborative application, even not inreal-time (for example, a workgroup).

In an embodiment, each screen is comprised in a touch-screen table.However, the touch-screen may be of any type (for example, based onacoustic pulse technology) and embedded in any table (for example, withcantilever support).

In an embodiment, said step of acquiring a first digital image comprisesacquiring the first digital image representing the current screen.However, the first digital image may represent the current screen in anyway (for example, by shooting a larger area comprising it, exactly it oronly a portion thereof wherein the physical objects may be placed).

In an embodiment, said step of obtaining an object digital imagecomprises identifying one or more candidate areas for the object areaaccording to the comparison between the first digital image and thedisplayed digital image. However, the candidate areas may be in anynumber and the candidate areas may be identified in any way (forexample, discarding the ones with a size below a threshold).

In an embodiment, the object area is set to a selected one of thecandidate areas. However, the setting of the object area may beperformed in any way (for example, completely manually, completelyautomatically by ranking the candidate areas according to one or morepre-defined criteria (like shape, size) or with any combinationthereof).

In an embodiment, said step of identifying one or more candidate areascomprises selecting the object area among the candidate areas accordingto a comparison of a shape of each candidate area with at least onereference shape. However, the reference shapes may be in any number andof any type (for example, defined by their profile, size or anycombination thereof). The candidate areas may be compared with thereference shapes in any way (for example, by applying image recognitiontechniques). In any case, this comparison operation may be used toselect the object area automatically, to limit the number of candidateareas for a next manual selection or this comparison operation may beomitted at all.

In an embodiment, the step of identifying one or more candidate areascomprises prompting a user of the current screen to select the objectarea among the candidate areas. However, the object area may be selectedin any way (for example, in a corresponding list). In any case, thisprompting operation may be performed always, only when multiplecandidate areas are found or this prompting operation may be omitted atall when a single candidate area is found.

In an embodiment, said step of obtaining an object digital imagecomprises acquiring the object digital image representing the objectarea by the digital cameras. However, the object digital image may be ofany type and it may be acquired in any way (either the same or differentwith respect to the first digital image), directly to represent theobject area or from any contour digital image representing any contourarea enclosing the object area (for example, slightly larger than it).In any case, the possibility of generating the object digital image fromthe first digital image in the semi-automatic mode as well is notexcluded.

In an embodiment, the object digital image has a resolution higher thana resolution of the first digital image. However, the object digitalimage and the first digital image may have any resolutions (either inabsolute terms or in relative terms, with each one of the images thatmay be lower, the same or higher than the other one of the images).

In an embodiment, said step of acquiring the object digital imagecomprises an iteration implemented by repeating the following steps.

In an embodiment, the iteration comprises verifying an obstruction ofthe object area according to a comparison between the object digitalimage and a corresponding portion of the first digital image. However,the object digital image may be compared with the corresponding portionof the first digital image in any way (either the same or different withrespect to the comparison for identifying the object area). Theobstruction may be determined in any way according to this comparison(for example, when a group of differing adjacent cells with a sizehigher than a threshold is found) or more generally according to anyother criterion (for example, when the representation of anotherphysical object is detected immediately outside the object area). In anycase, this verification may also be omitted at all in a basicimplementation.

In an embodiment, the iteration comprises outputting a warning forclearing the object area when the obstruction is detected. However, thewarning may be of any type (for example, only of visual type, only ofacoustic type or any combination thereof).

In an embodiment, the iteration comprises re-acquiring the objectdigital image after the outputting of said warning. However, the objectdigital image may be re-acquired in any way (either the same ordifferent with respect to a previous acquisition thereof) and at anytime (for example, after a manual confirmation that the object area hasbeen cleared).

In an embodiment, the above-mentioned steps of the iteration arerepeated until the obstruction is not detected. However, the iterationmay be terminated in any way (for example, by aborting the importing ofthe physical object after a pre-defined number of attempts to acquirethe object digital image).

In an embodiment, the step of acquiring a first digital image comprisesprompting a user of the current screen to select a scan area of thecurrent screen enclosing the physical object. However, the scan area maybe selected in any way (for example, by drawing multiple straight linesdefining the scan area's edges, by pointing to the scan area's cornersonly).

In an embodiment, said step of acquiring a first digital image comprisesacquiring the first digital image representing the scan area. However,the first digital image may be of any type and it may be acquired in anyway (either the same or different with respect to the case of the objectdigital image in the semi-automatic mode), either directly to representthe scan area or from any digital image representing any area enclosingthe one selected by the user (for example, slightly larger than the oneselected by the user).

In an embodiment, the step of obtaining an object digital imagecomprises identifying the object area according to the comparisonbetween the first digital image and a corresponding portion of thedisplayed digital image. However, the first digital image may becompared with the corresponding portion of the displayed digital imagein any way (either the same or different with respect to the case of thesemi-automatic mode).

In an embodiment, the step of obtaining an object digital imagecomprises generating the object digital image from the representation ofthe object area in the first digital image. However, the object digitalimage may be generated from the first digital image in any way (forexample, from the first digital image as acquired or from a smoothedversion thereof). In any case, the possibility of acquiring anotherobject digital image representing the object area in the manual mode aswell is not excluded.

In an embodiment, said step of acquiring the first digital imagecomprises an iteration implemented by repeating the following steps.

In an embodiment, the iteration comprises verifying an obstruction ofthe object area according to a comparison between a peripheral portionof the first digital image and a corresponding portion of the displayeddigital image. However, the peripheral portion of the first digitalimage may be defined in any way (for example, by a frame with apredefined width). The peripheral portion of the first digital image maybe compared with the corresponding portion of the displayed digitalimage in any way and the obstruction may be determined in any wayaccording to this comparison or more generally according to any othercriterion (either the same or different with respect to the case of thesemi-automatic mode). In any case, this verification may also be omittedin a basic implementation.

In an embodiment, the iteration comprises outputting a warning forclearing the object area when the obstruction is detected. However, thewarning may be of any type (either the same or different with respect tothe case of the semi-automatic mode).

In an embodiment, the iteration comprises re-acquiring the first digitalimage after the outputting of the warning. However, the first digitalimage may be re-acquired in any way and at any time (either the same ordifferent with respect to the case of the semi-automatic mode).

In an embodiment, the above-mentioned steps of the iteration arerepeated until the obstruction is not detected. However, the iterationmay be terminated in any way (either the same or different with respectto the case of the semi-automatic mode).

In an embodiment, said step of displaying the digital document comprisesdisplaying a highlighting around the physical object on the currentscreen. However, the highlighting may be of any type, even notsurrounding the physical object (for example, an arrow pointing to thephysical object). The highlighting may be replaced by any otherindication (for example, a pop-up window) or the highlighting may beomitted.

In an embodiment, said step of displaying the digital document comprisesmonitoring a removal of the physical object from the current screen.However, the removal of the physical object may be monitored in any way(for example, by surface photo-cells), or the removal of the physicalobject may be completely omitted when the highlighting is not displayed.

In an embodiment, said step of displaying the digital document comprisesdeleting the highlighting from the current screen in response to theremoval of the physical object. However, the highlighting may be deletedin any way (for example, in response to a manual confirmation of theremoval of the physical object).

Generally, similar considerations apply if the same solution isimplemented with an equivalent method (by using similar steps with thesame functions of more steps or portions thereof, removing some stepsbeing non-essential, or adding further optional steps). Moreover, thesteps may be performed in a different order, concurrently or in aninterleaved way (at least in part).

An embodiment provides a computer program configured for causing acomputing system to perform the above-mentioned method when the computerprogram is executed on the computing system. An embodiment provides acomputer program product, the computer program product comprising acomputer readable storage medium having program instructions embodiedtherewith, the program instructions executable by a computing system tocause the computing system to perform the same method. However, thecomputer program may be implemented as a stand-alone module, as aplug-in for a pre-existing software application (for example, thetele-conference application, and particularly each tele-conferenceagent), or even directly in the latter. In any case, the solutionaccording to an embodiment of the present invention lends itself to beimplemented even with a hardware structure (for example, by electroniccircuits integrated in one or more chips of semiconductor material), orwith a combination of software and hardware suitably programmed orotherwise configured.

An embodiment provides a system comprising means configured forperforming the above-mentioned method. An embodiment provides a systemcomprising a circuitry (i.e., any hardware suitably configured, forexample, by software) for performing each step of the same method;particularly, an embodiment provides a system for importing informationin a computing system, the system comprising a circuitry for displayingan information content being stored in the computing system on each ofone or more screens of the computing system provided in correspondinglocations, a circuitry for receiving an import request by the computingsystem in a current one of the locations for importing a digitalrepresentation of a physical object placed on a current one of thescreens in the current location, a circuitry for acquiring a firstdigital image at least partially representing the current screen by oneor more digital cameras arranged above the current screen, a circuitryfor obtaining an object digital image representing an object area of thecurrent screen being covered by the physical object, the object areabeing identified according to a comparison between the first digitalimage and a displayed digital image being displayed by the currentscreen at an acquisition instant of the first digital image, a circuitryfor generating a digital document representing the physical object fromthe object digital image, and a circuitry for adding the digitaldocument to the information content for the displaying of the digitaldocument on each one of the screens in correspondence to a position ofthe physical object on the current screen.

However, the method may also be carried out on a system based on adifferent architecture (for example, a local, wide area, global,cellular or satellite network), and exploiting any type of (wired and/orwireless) connections, or even in a stand-along computer. It would bereadily apparent that it is also possible to deploy the same solution asa service that is accessed through a network (such as in the Internet).

Generally, similar considerations apply if the system has a differentstructure or comprises equivalent components or it has other operativecharacteristics. In any case, every component thereof may be separatedinto more elements, or two or more components may be combined togetherinto a single element; moreover, each component may be replicated tosupport the execution of the corresponding operations in parallel.Moreover, unless specified otherwise, any interaction between differentcomponents generally does not need to be continuous, and it may beeither direct or indirect through one or more intermediaries.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, Firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

A computer program product of the present invention includes one or morecomputer readable hardware storage devices having computer readableprogram code stored therein, said program code containing instructionsexecutable by one or more processors of a computing system (or computersystem) to implement the methods of the present invention.

A computing system (or computer system) of the present inventionincludes one or more processors, one or more memories, and one or morecomputer readable hardware storage devices, said one or more hardwarestorage devices containing program code executable by the one or moreprocessors via the one or more memories to implement the methods of thepresent invention.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers or ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, said method comprising: displaying, byone or more processors of a computing system, an information contentbeing stored in the computing system on each screen of a plurality ofscreens of the computing system, said information content beingdisplayed, to respective users participating in a tele-conference, incorresponding locations in the screens of the plurality of screens, eachscreen being located in a different room; receiving, by the one or moreprocessors from a current user participating in the tele-conference at acurrent screen of the plurality of screens, an import request forimporting a digital representation of a physical object placed on thecurrent screen, said plurality of screens consisting of the currentscreen and one or more remaining screens; acquiring, by the one or moreprocessors, a scan digital image of the current screen, including thephysical object, by one or more digital cameras arranged above thecurrent screen; obtaining, by the one or more processors, an objectdigital image identifying an object area in the current screen beingcovered by the physical object, said object area being identifiedaccording to a comparison between the scan digital image and a displayeddigital image of the current screen being displayed by the currentscreen at an acquisition instant of the scan digital image, saiddisplayed digital image not including any object on the current screen,said comparison identifying one or more candidate areas of the scandigital image that differ from corresponding one or more areas of thedisplayed digital image, said object digital image being obtained from aselection from the one or more candidate areas; generating, by the oneor more processors, a digital document representing the physical objectcovering the object area in the current screen; placing, by the one ormore processors, the digital document in the object area in the currentscreen as soon as the current user removes the physical object from thecurrent screen; and adding, by the one or more processors, the digitaldocument to the information content for displaying the digital documenton each screen of the one or more remaining screens in a positioncorresponding to the object area on the current screen.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein each screen is in a touch-screen table.
 3. The methodof claim 1, wherein said acquiring the scan digital image comprises:acquiring the scan digital image of the entire current screen.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the comparison is a comparison of a shape ofeach candidate area with at least one reference shape.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said identifying the one or more candidate areascomprises: prompting the current user to select the object area fromamong the one or more candidate areas.
 6. The method of claim 3, whereinsaid obtaining the object digital image comprises: acquiring, by thedigital cameras, the object digital image identifying the object area.7. The method of claim 1, wherein the object digital image has aresolution higher than a resolution of the scan digital image.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, said method further comprising: ascertaining, by theby the one or more processors, whether an obstruction of the object areaexists, said ascertaining based on a comparison between the objectdigital image and a corresponding portion of the scan digital image; andif said ascertaining ascertains that the obstruction of the object areaexists, then outputting, by the one or more processors, a warning forclearing the object area, re-acquiring the object digital image aftersaid outputting the warning, and iteratively repeating saidascertaining, said outputting the warning, and said re-acquiring theobject digital image until said ascertaining ascertains that theobstruction of the object area does not exist, wherein said ascertainingascertains, at least once, that the obstruction of the object areaexists.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said acquiring the scandigital image comprises: prompting the current user to select a scanarea of the current screen enclosing the physical object; and acquiringthe scan digital image representing the scan area.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein said acquiring the scan digital image comprises:ascertaining whether an obstruction of the object area exists, saidascertaining based on a comparison between a peripheral portion of thescan digital image and a corresponding portion of the displayed digitalimage; and if said ascertaining ascertains that the obstruction of theobject area exists, then outputting a warning for clearing the objectarea, re-acquiring the scan digital image after said outputting thewarning, and iteratively repeating said ascertaining, said outputtingthe warning, and said re-acquiring the scan digital image until saidascertaining ascertains that the obstruction of the object area does notexist.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein said displaying the digitaldocument comprises: displaying a highlighting around the physical objecton the current screen; monitoring a removal of the physical object fromthe current screen; and deleting the highlighting from the currentscreen in response to the removal of the physical object.
 12. A computerprogram product, comprising a computer readable hardware storage devicehaving program instructions stored therein, said program instructionsexecutable by one or more processors of a computing system to implementa method, said method comprising: displaying, by the one or moreprocessors, an information content being stored in the computing systemon each screen of a plurality of screens of the computing system, saidinformation content being displayed, to respective users participatingin a tele-conference, in corresponding locations in the screens of theplurality of screens, each screen being located in a different room;receiving, by the one or more processors from a current userparticipating in the tele-conference at a current screen of theplurality of screens, an import request for importing a digitalrepresentation of a physical object placed on the current screen, saidplurality of screens consisting of the current screen and one or moreremaining screens; acquiring, by the one or more processors, a scandigital image of the current screen, including the physical object, byone or more digital cameras arranged above the current screen;obtaining, by the one or more processors, an object digital imageidentifying an object area in the current screen being covered by thephysical object, said object area being identified according to acomparison between the scan digital image and a displayed digital imageof the current screen being displayed by the current screen at anacquisition instant of the scan digital image, said displayed digitalimage not including any object on the current screen, said comparisonidentifying one or more candidate areas of the scan digital image thatdiffer from corresponding one or more areas of the displayed digitalimage, said object digital image being obtained from a selection fromthe one or more candidate areas; generating, by the one or moreprocessors, a digital document representing the physical object coveringthe object area in the current screen; placing, by the one or moreprocessors, the digital document in the object area in the currentscreen as soon as the current user removes the physical object from thecurrent screen; and adding, by the one or more processors, the digitaldocument to the information content for displaying the digital documenton each screen of the one or more remaining screens in a positioncorresponding to the object area on the current screen.
 13. The computerprogram product of claim 12, wherein each screen is in a touch-screentable.
 14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein saidacquiring the scan digital image comprises: acquiring the scan digitalimage of the entire current screen.
 15. A computing system, comprisingone or more processors, one or more memories, and one or more computerreadable hardware storage devices, said one or more hardware storagedevice containing program code executable by the one or more processorsvia the one or more memories to implement a method, said methodcomprising: displaying, by the one or more processors, an informationcontent being stored in the computing system on each screen of aplurality of screens of the computing system, said information contentbeing displayed, to respective users participating in a tele-conference,in corresponding locations in the screens of the plurality of screens,each screen being located in a different room; receiving, by the one ormore processors from a current user participating in the tele-conferenceat a current screen of the plurality of screens, an import request forimporting a digital representation of a physical object placed on thecurrent screen, said plurality of screens consisting of the currentscreen and one or more remaining screens; acquiring, by the one or moreprocessors, a scan digital image of the current screen, including thephysical object, by one or more digital cameras arranged above thecurrent screen; obtaining, by the one or more processors, an objectdigital image identifying an object area in the current screen beingcovered by the physical object, said object area being identifiedaccording to a comparison between the scan digital image and a displayeddigital image of the current screen being displayed by the currentscreen at an acquisition instant of the scan digital image, saiddisplayed digital image not including any object on the current screen,said comparison identifying one or more candidate areas of the scandigital image that differ from corresponding one or more areas of thedisplayed digital image, said object digital image being obtained from aselection from the one or more candidate areas; generating, by the oneor more processors, a digital document representing the physical objectcovering the object area in the current screen; placing, by the one ormore processors, the digital document in the object area in the currentscreen as soon as the current user removes the physical object from thecurrent screen; and adding, by the one or more processors, the digitaldocument to the information content for displaying the digital documenton each screen of the one or more remaining screens in a positioncorresponding to the object area on the current screen.
 16. Thecomputing system of claim 15, wherein each screen is in a touch-screentable.
 17. The computing system of claim 15, wherein said acquiring thescan digital image comprises: acquiring the scan digital image of theentire current screen.